Which Oklahoma counties have the most traffic fatalities?

Residents of Oklahoma know full well how dangerous roads and highways can be. Unfortunately, sometimes these travels can become deadly.

According to a study of national data, two counties in Oklahoma ranked as some of the highest in the United States for traffic fatalities, per capita, for counties with 20,000 to 149,999 residents.

Of counties in that population grouping, Seminole County was ranked the 13th-most deadly for traffic fatalities, and McCurtain County ranked 18th.

The study from Convoy used data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and found that the number of traffic fatalities in the U.S. each year ranges between 35,000 and 45,000 fatalities.

In Oklahoma, there were 681 fatal crashes in 2021 and 762 deaths.

According to NHTSA, speeding is a factor in almost one-third of all traffic fatalities.

Seminole County saw more than 50 deaths from 2017 to 2021

In Seminole County, there were 53 traffic fatalities between 2017 and 2021, according to an analysis of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s Fatalities Analysis Reporting System (FARS) reports by Convoy Car Shipping. That works out to a rate of 22.7 deaths per 100,000 people.

Of those fatalities, 15 happened on US-377, which runs the length of the county from north to south.

In McCurtain County, there were 69 traffic fatalities in the county from 2017 to 2021 with a fatality rate of 22.31 deaths per 100,000 people. The deadliest road in the county is US-259, which connects Broken Bow and Hochatown, with 20 fatalities from 2017 to 2021.

The deadliest county in this population category is Fairfield County, South Carolina, with a fatality rate of 30.31 deaths per 100,000 people.

What is the deadliest county in the US for traffic fatalities per capita?

The single most deadly place per capita for traffic fatalities in the country is, by a wide margin, Loving County, Texas.

Loving saw only 15 traffic fatalities in that four-year period, but Loving also has the distinction of being the least populous county in the country with a permanent population. With a population of 57 at the time, that’s a rate of 2,491 per 10,000 people.

Almost half of them happened on County Road 300, which is one of only two major roads in the area.

Contributing: C. A. Bridges.

STEVE SISNEY/THE OKLAHOMAN FILE According to a study, two Oklahoma counties ranked as some of the highest in the U.S. for traffic fatalities, per capita, for counties with 20,000 to 149,999 people.